Director, Project Controls, NA

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world’s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

Construction Department

The Construction team is responsible for the entire process flow of delivering the physical data centers from shovel ready state through commissioning, working with Sales, Operations, and management along the way.  Construction implements and executes upon the work product developed by the Development & Engineering (D&E) team.  The team also manages Vantage’s build partners to success through technical feedback and review, and actively participating in review of schedule and budget.  Many times, a role like this at other companies is purely oversight.  One thing that distinguishes Vantage is that our construction teams are given the responsibility and authority to directly drive the process.  When compared to external resources, our internal team can ensure the key stakeholders are engaged in the decision-making process to align long-term operational sustainability with value engineering and cost metrics to deliver products aligned with corporate goals.  This approach empowers each member of the team to drive high- impact decisions and even more impactful results.

Position Overview

This role can be based in any of our US locations, or US-Remote.

Vantage is looking for a Director, Project Controls, NA to support project controls functions as part of our end to-end data center development cycle. As a leader, you will drive a company program supporting four main pillars within project controls including scheduling, cost estimating, change management and reporting.

You will be charged with building and leading a great team and leveraging internal and external resources to enable delivery teams to improve speed to market, drive to optimized returns through lower build costs, help manage/mitigate risks, and have a repeatable/scalable change management process.

Essential Job Functions

• Provide overall leadership to architect and improve project controls system, processes and specifications to enable teams to leverage historical data, leverage predictive analytics, and support data-driven decision making.

• Collaborate with Innovation Engineering, Site Selection/New Site Development, and Construction teams to provide end-to-end support and feedback loop to tie actuals to future improvements.

• Oversee the production of project schedules throughout project lifecycle to support internal and external development teams to meet or exceed targets.

• Cost Management:

  • Establish useable budgets and manage costs to meet or exceed cost targets.

  • Leverage cost databases using Vantage software programs to establish budget accuracy and optimize financial results.

  • Utilize cost accounting software dashboards with real-time telemetry at project, site, region, and national levels.

  • Contribute to the month-end financial forecasting process and ensure risk exposure and gainful opportunities are accurately reported

• Risk and Change Management:

  • At project start, develop risk management plans and maintain them throughout the project with mitigation strategies.

  • Establish a change management workflow incorporating existing processes and best practices.

  • Support Development design and Operations evaluations to assess cost and schedule impacts of proposed changes.

• Performance Monitoring and Reporting:

  • Utilize data to produce real-time status, KPIs, and predictive analytics.

  • Prepare detailed cost, schedule, risk, and upside reports for project teams and management.

  • Contribute to the month-end financial forecasting process and ensure risk exposure is accurately reported.

• Programmatic Support

  • Create and maintain schedule database to set allowable ranges of each activity based real data; leverage cost database to do the same.

  • Leverage data to produce real-time status, KPIs and predictive analytics systems Commented [JS1]: Update with Latest

  • Propagate use of standard breakdown structures (WBS, CBS, etc.) and Schedule of Values (SOV) to ensure consistent data capture and accurate cross-referencing of budgets and actuals.

  • Maintain program level schedule updates, prepare site specific schedules, and cost/schedule customer deliverables.

  • Leverage leading and lagging indicators to help project teams identify impacts proactively and support development of mitigation plans

• Reporting

  • Develop dashboards with real-time telemetry at project, site, region and global levels; deliver detailed cost, schedule, risk/upside reports for the project teams and management as needed.

  • Contribute to the month-end financial forecasting process.

  • Ensure risk exposure is accurately extracted from the Risk/Upside Log into other reports.

  • Provide project teams with schedule lookahead metrics o Run analyses to compare the work in place to the progress billings to report risk to budget or schedule.

• Development Projects (Preconstruction and Construction)

  • Support time-impact analysis throughout development stage gates.

  • Ensure contractors comply with cost/schedule formats and data inputs enabling efficient data management.

  • Work with project teams and Construction Cost and Finance (CCF) to improve project estimating process at each development stage including conceptual design, SD, DD, CD

  • Partner with CCF to establish cost standardization, benchmarking, labor analysis/efficiency and forecasting/ variance analysis to identify risks as well as opportunities to optimize ongoing and future builds.

  • Support project teams in the development of Schedule of Values

  • Review and perform health check analysis on contractor’s baseline and progress schedules.

• Additional duties as assigned by Management

Job Requirements

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Quantity Surveying or certification as Project Controls Manager or equivalent required, MBA is helpful.

• 8 years of experience in project controls management required 10 to 12 years preferred

• Global construction experience is required, and data Center experience is strongly preferred, but not required.

• Understanding general project controls technical skills and the integration of all of the components including organizational, planning, accounting, analysis and revision process areas.

• Experience in P6 software and interface with accounting software like Yardi and Anaplan strongly preferred.

• Strong organizational and time management skills

• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills

• Travel required is expected to be 25%, but may increase over time as the business evolve.

Physical Demands and Special Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to handle or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop or kneel; talk and hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Addition Information:

• Salary Range: $175,000-200,000 Base + Bonus (this range is based Colorado on market data and may vary in other locations)

• This position is eligible for company benefits including but not limited to medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and AD&D, short and long-term disability coverage, paid time off, employee assistance, participation in a 401k program that includes company match, and many other additional voluntary benefits. 

• Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including your qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience and may fall outside of the range shown.

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We operate with No Ego and No Arrogance. We work to build each other up and support one another, appreciating each other’s strengths and respecting each other’s weaknesses. We find joy in our work and each other, actively seeking opportunities to inject fun into what we do. Our hard and efficient work is rewarded with an above market total compensation package. We offer a comprehensive suite of health and welfare, retirement, and paid leave benefits exceeding local expectations.

Throughout the year, the advantage of being part of the Vantage team is evident with an array of benefits, recognition, training and development, and the knowledge that your contribution adds value to the company and our community.

Don't meet all the requirements? Please still apply if you think you are the right person for the position. We are always keen to speak to people who connect with our mission and values.

Vantage Data Centers is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Vantage Data Centers does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firm agencies. Fees will not be paid in the event a candidate submitted by a recruiter without an agreement in place is hired; such resumes will be deemed the sole property of Vantage Data Centers.

We’ll be accepting applications for at least one week from the date this role is posted. If you're interested, we encourage you to apply soon—we’re excited to find the right person and will keep the role open until we do!